Yabloko
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| Yabloko | |
|---|---|
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| Leader | Grigory Yavlinsky |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Headquarters | Moscow |
| Political ideology | Social liberalism |
| International affiliation | Liberal International |
| Website | www.Yabloko.ru |
| Russia |
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Yabloko (official title: the Russian Democratic Party Yabloko, in Russian: Российская демократическая партия "Яблоко", (Russian: Яблоко — Apple)) is a Russian social-liberal party, led by Grigory Yavlinsky. The party stands for the protection of political and media freedoms in Russia, for Russia's integration with the West, including future membership of the European Union, and strongly opposes the war in Chechnya. Yabloko criticises President Vladimir Putin for his authoritarian policies and has called for the removal of his regime "by constitutional means." Yabloko currently holds 2 seats in the Russian State Duma (lower house of Parliament), its deputies being Sergei Popov from St. Petersburg and Galina Khovanskaya from Moscow.
The title "Yabloko" was originally formed from the acronyms of the names of its founders - Я - Grigory Yavlinsky, Б - Yuri Boldyrev, and Л - Vladimir Lukin. It means "apple" in Russian. The logo consists of a red circle and a green isosceles triangle, suggesting an apple in a constructivist style (coincidentally similar to the logo of the Canadian Parti Quebecois). The party was originally established as a public organization in 1993 and morphed into a political party in 2001. It contested parliamentary elections in 1993, 1995, 1999 and 2003 with the following results (the seat tally includes deputies elected on the proportional party-list system as well as in individual single-mandate districts):
| Year | % of the vote | Duma seats |
| 1993 | 7.86% | 27 |
| 1995 | 6.89% | 45 |
| 1999 | 5.93% | 20 |
| 2003 | 4.30% | 4 |
It is widely believed that the vote-count in the 2003 Russian parliamentary election was marred by fraud.[citation needed] All major exit-polls and parallel recounts conducted by opposition observers showed that Yabloko crossed the 5% threshold needed for parliamentary representation, gaining 6% of the vote, which should have been translated into some 20 parliamentary seats.[citation needed] However, official results announced by the Central Election Commission gave Yabloko 4.30% of the vote and no seats on the proportional party-list system. Only four Yabloko candidates won in individual district races and were elected to the Duma.
On 4 December 2005 Yabloko-United Democrats, a coalition formed by Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces, won 11% of the vote in the Moscow municipal elections and became one of only three parties (along with United Russia and the Communist Party) to enter the new Moscow City Duma. This success was seen by Yabloko leaders as a hopeful sign for the 2007 Russian parliamentary election, and reinforced the view that Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces need to unite in order to be elected to the State Duma in 2007.
The Commission on the Unification of Democratic Forces, under the chairmanship of Boris Nemtsov, was established by the Union of Right Forces on February 16, 2006. However, the merger plans were discarded in December 2006 since the differences seemed too large.[1]
The Russian Democratic Party Yabloko had been an observer of the Liberal International since 2002, and became a full member after the ELDR Bucharest congress in October 2006. The party's central office is located in Moscow.
[edit] See also
- Liberalism
- Social liberalism
- Contributions to liberal theory
- Liberalism worldwide
- List of liberal parties
- Liberal democracy
- Liberalism in Russia
